Mr. R. Chair,
It would have been a pretty good effort just for Ruth to make it up to Boulder Basin or just south of there. A slow pace in that heat just cooks you longer at a shorter distance. West Boulder would be very difficult for someone who required a cane, just to walk, let alone considering the heat and Ruth's age. Once Ruth left Willow Spring there was no water available, that he would have come on. He was sucking on that small thermos of water that he carried with him.
Have you been in the Superstitions?Something else is at play here.
Good luck,
Joe Ribaudo
Thank you for the suspicion of more being at play.
What I am hinting at is that the only distinct trait of Ruth's tracks were cane marks.
With a stick we can measure gait on easy straight aways. Lose next print ,use the stick to reach where it should be. Mixed tracks from different non distinct feet causing a mix up( to casual eyes) means to try to match that gait/ stride again to stay on one individual.
Ruth could have been long dead , but his cane and shoes could still have been leaving tracks.
More suspicion can be aroused if those tracks made after he was dead went a direction some one wanted them to for diversion. Had Ruths gait and scuff pattern been measured on easy going ground ( where known to actually be his) , then compared to the tracks others reported after he was missing we would know more.
I have never been in the Sups. Ol Ruth was though. (Where I wandered Az. long ago had no mountains.) I have watched footage and satellite and have relation in sight of mountains. If rough ground were desired, it can be found quick enough. Why? Do you suspect I am ignorant? I'm on the subject of tracking. Something I have plenty of hours into on a variety of creatures in varied states of living and dying.
Ruth was making tracks there ,as were others.. Focus on that fact and not what terrain I have been in in relation.
A plate in well healed bone ( circulation a big factor in healing) would not be his demise.
He knew his limitations of mobility. And the terrain he was in/ at/ around.
My vote is his risk level ( in hiking) was a conservative one at it's upper range. That does not mean his cane and shoe prints could not lead over a cliff or down a crevice after he was already done walking. But walk he did.
I've labored long in heat that will cook the grease out of a body. Stepped from it into below freezing from it for a smoke and not had goose bumps.
While conditioning factors in the skill of working in heat,it is an acclimation that takes time. Did Ruth have exposure to it in advance of his last outing? Yes . Did he wet his hat? Wet rag on the back of his shaded neck? Was he walking at noon , at night or the first hour or two of daylight?
His distance from water ,with his experience meant the water he had with him at the half volume meant his outer range before returning to water. He had not peed in his thermos yet,unless unreported.
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